I write cookbooks and I also edit them. In fact, I'll do anything at all related to cookbooks and gardening books, including rewriting, ghost writing, editing, indexing, proofreading, and Americanizing. Working as a freelancer gives me the freedom to work in the garden (and gives me the excuse to neglect the garden, too!!!)

Over the years, I've written quite a few cookbooks and many are still in print. Last September, two of my older titles 101 One-Dish Dinners and The Roasted Vegetable go an update with photos. And speaking of photos: The Fat Kitchen, which will be published by Storey in November 2018 will be loaded with really beautiful photos to showcase cooking with animal fats.

The Backyard Homestead Book of Kitchen Know-How came out in August 2015, and it has been fun teaching classes and giving demos in support of the book. Sometimes I bring to these events some sourdough starter to share that has a pedigree dating back to the Yukon Gold Rush of 1896 -- and there are some great sourdough recipes in the book, as well as all the harvesting, preserving, handling information you might need if you grow your own food or shop from a farmers' market. --It's like taking me home with you in book form!

Pickled Pantry was the book before that, a big expansion of my very first cookbook, which was about pickling. I teach about making pickles and especially fermented pickles often. I often write about seasonal cooking, and Serving Up the Harvest and Recipes from the Root Cellar are both very dear to my heart and contain many family favorites.

I took a break from vegetables to write 250 Treasured Country Desserts with my co-author Fran Raboff on, which came out in 2009. The book is an update and expanded version of Mom’s Best Desserts, which was an update and expanded version of The Great American Dessert Cookbook. The collection contains everyone’s favorite home desserts—lots of cookies, brownies, layer cakes, pies, old-fashioned fruit desserts, ice cream, and more.

The New Vegetarian Grill is an updated and expanded version of an earlier book about vegetarian grilling. I’ve also written roasting vegetables (The Roasted Vegetable), and healthy eating (366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grains). Then there is also Mom’s Best One-Dish Suppers and Mom’s Best Crowd-Pleasers, and a few more that are now out-of-print.

My work has appeared in Mother Earth News, Edible Green Mountains, Cooking Light, Vegetarian Times, Organic Gardening, Fine Cooking, Food & Wine, Natural Health, and several other magazines and newspapers. I was a contributing editor for Vermont Life for twelve years.

I live in an old farmhouse in Ripton, Vermont, a very small town where early and late frosts make gardening challenging. The poet Robert Frost used to rent a cottage across the street and took his meals in our house, in what we now call “the Robert Frost Memorial Dining Room.” I am married to Richard Ruane, a marvelous musician and recipe taster. Our kids, Rory and Sam, are also excellent cooks and enthusiastic recipe tasters. They serve as great inspiration for me.